Zero time for titles

Thank you everyone for the warm wishes. Mark and I had a lovely anniversary. Susan, Frannie and Julius came over to our place to occupy Noah for a few hours so that we could sneak out for dinner. And though it was the first time we left him with anyone other than a grandparent, it was really worry free. He sees them all often, is totally comfortable with mild-mannered Frannie, and was excited to have them over to play. He barely said goodbye. And off we went to Copper, an American bistro BYOB that recently opened in our hood. The food was tasty but kind of textbook, no stunning taste combinations that blew us away or dishes I can’t go on without eating again, and it was certainly not as warm and inviting as Aden, the restaurant that formerly resided in that space. (Thankfully I’ve heard a rumor that Aden is reopening just a few doors north in a larger space.) What was incredible was the splurge bottle of wine we brought to accompany dinner. Mark and I drink red wine on most nights and we don’t often spend more than ten dollars on a bottle – but since four years is FRUIT and flowers, part of my gift to Mark was a $30!!! bottle of wine. And luckily I went to the Premium Collection store downtown and got a really good and snooty recommendation from someone far more wine educated than myself. He sold me when he described the wine as being really drinkable – which is how I like my wine, you know, when I drink it. I have to tell you that it was bar none the best bottle of wine I ever drank and definitely a case of you get what you pay for. To follow up that delectable bottle of wine we stopped at the new Bar Ferdinand for a cocktail on the walk home. And again – tasty liquorishness. I decided to be adventurous and ordered a Granada – blueberry Stoli, orange liqueur and pomegranate juice. It was divine. All of it - a lovely two hours out of my home, toddler-free (and yet worry-free) with my wonderful husband.

So that was a pretty lengthy description. Let’s fast forward through the week. Miss Tracey stopped by for Shepard’s Pie on Friday. Mark, Noah and I met my Father-in-law, his wife, Mark’s 97 year old Grandma, my Mom and her beau at a dinner to celebrate my FIL’s birthday. Insane amounts of food were consumed – my FIL’s wife always presents 57 dishes at every meal though we’ve begged her repeatedly to pare it down to 6. I feel compelled to eat some of everything and I always leave feeling like death. On Sunday we began the mad scurry to remove everything from the second floor of our home in preparation for the carpet install that is occurring on Thursday. And by the by, Lowe’s will be doing it – the much lower price and zero financing for one year sealed the deal, much to our chagrin. We pray they do a decent job though we’ve heard many stories to the contrary.

Noah hasn’t napped for the last two days and I fear this seems to be the norm. He can definitely make it through the day while remaining even-tempered, I just have to make sure that I can do the same. I’m blogging while Mark bathes Noah this evening and it’s the first child-free moment I’ve had all day. In fact – I babysat a neighbor’s 18 month old daughter this afternoon so it’s been a particularly childarific time.

The next couple of weeks seem insanely over-planned. We have the carpet shenanigans, a Mom’s night out, a bunch of neighborhood Halloween activities for Noah, Bella’s Bday party, a Halloween party, and then the mad dash to prepare for Noah’s birthday party. Or should I say parties- he’s having one with neighborhood toddlers (possibly 10 total – SAVE US!) and their parents at our place on Saturday, and then a second one at my Mom’s place for family and friends so close they are family. I don’t know how much blogging I’ll be doing, but I hope to do some drive-bys with Noah bits and pictures. And that’s what most of you folks want anyway, so it’ll probably be a relief from all my needless blabbering. Peace out.